I have  friends who either just had a baby or are pregnant, and I tell them all, “The first month is BRUTAL, but once you get past it, it gets so much better.”

The reason I found the first month to be so difficult is because:

1. Im sleep deprived with feeding every 2 hours, plus I never caught up with the sleep I lacked from the labor and delivery process.

2. Breastfeeding was NOT easy, and good gracious did I hurt!?

3. I was hormonal which really didn’t make things easier, and if anything amplified everything x 5

4. Chris was back to work the day after we got home from the hospital, so Naomi and I were left to pull our crap together and forge through the days.

5. You have that 1 week check up with the Pediatrician who’s always concerned about weight loss and Jaundice. Naomi lost more than 10% of her weight, had 1 wet diaper the whole day, so we took her to the ER cause the pediatrician thought we should. (She looked okay though) And she had more pricks for blood work, which for a hormonal sleep deprived mother, was awful and heartbreaking to watch.

[Sidenote: I should mention that I am an ER nurse and my husband an ER doctor, and I never thought I’d be that mother that cries when their babies gets probed and pricked. But it’s a whole different ball game on this side of the field.  I like to blame it on hormones. Because she had her 2 month check up with a new, and BETTER pediatrician and received her vaccinations (5 shots), and though she cried, I was strong for her and did not shed a tear! I pat myself on the back and gave her kisses.]

Naomi at 1 month

Naomi at 2 months

By 2 months, Naomi was sleeping through the night. I’m talking 9-10-11 hours of sleep. Though I read sleep training books, I really never had to implement the methods I’d read about in Babywise. I thank my lucky stars that my baby is such a great sleeper. She never really napped well during the day, but I am more than okay with that knowing that we’ll both get to sleep at night. Also, she slept in her own bassinet at the bedside. And once every now and then I’d co-sleep with her if for a nap or those nights when daddy was at doing his overnight shifts at work. But she sleeps very well in her bassinet, and now at 3.5 months, she’s transitioned to her crib because she outgrew the basinet. And though I miss looking at her  in the bassinet next to my bed, she is more comfortable in the extra space she has in the crib over in the next room. She had 1 week of  waking up in the middle of the night fussing and crying at around 4-5am. I looked it up and read about the 4 month regression. But I’m sure that if you looked, you’ll find something about regression in every month. So its all rubbish to me. Actually anytime she gets fussy, my husband and I just look at each other and say, “Growth spurt?” and shrug our shoulders.

She really has grown. I felt like in the last 2 weeks she’s gotten bigger, and taller. It makes me kind of sad to see how fast time has already flown by. She’s now laughing, giggling, smiling, and playing peek-a-boo.

Naomi at 3 months